A half million fewer people have Obamacare coverage now compared to a year ago, according to final enrollment data released Wednesday by the Trump administration.
About 12.2 million people signed up or were automatically enrolled in marketplace plans during the 2017 enrollment period, down from 12.7 million enrollees last year. The figures include people from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
But this year there were notably more young enrollees, a key demographic the Obama administration had tried but failed to attract in sufficient numbers to keep premiums lower. Thirty-six percent of enrollees were younger than age 35 compared to 28 percent within that age range last year.
A large majority of the enrollees, around 83 percent, received tax credits to help afford their plans, as in years past.
Republicans will likely point to the reduced enrollment as evidence that the marketplaces are imploding under skyrocketing premiums and deductibles and reduced plan choices, while Democrats will likely blame the Trump administration for not promoting marketplace plans as vigorously as the Obama administration did.
The data were released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which operates the federal marketplace Healthcare.gov and oversees the state-run marketplaces. The year’s enrollment season ran from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31.
